HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

online second opinion

Support Forums
>
Crohn's Disease
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 1/25/2011 9:16 PM (GMT 0)
Has anyone used any of the online second opinion options that places like the Cleveland Clinic offer?  You send them your medical records and pay about $500-$700 and they give you a second opinion.  Just wondering how much different answers you would get than if you go there in person.  If I've had every test recently and tried every available med, are they really going to be able to do much more by seeing me in person?  Will I just pay for them to do every test over again if I go in person?  Let me know if any of you have done this and, if so, did you get good results.  Any other opinions on whether this would be a waste of money will be appreciated. 
Posted 1/25/2011 9:35 PM (GMT 0)
Wow. Five hundred dollars seems pretty steep to me.

But don't they have to feel your tummy, look at your fistulas, etc, to do a proper examination?
Posted 1/26/2011 3:05 AM (GMT 0)
E-gad,

My "scam alarm" just went into overdrive. That sounds fishy. I'm not doubting what you are saying, not at all. I'm doubting the validity of someone going over paperwork and test results and passing opinion without actually examining the patient. $700 sounds like a lot of money. When I got a second opinion (at the request of my GI), he sent me up to a University hospital. That doctor went over the test results, but also did a thorough exam and an extensive interview with me. I think the whole deal took 3 hours. Seems like if I had paid that out of pocket, it would have been expensive, maybe even over $700, but I think it would be more valuable.

Just my opinion, nothing more.
Posted 1/26/2011 2:40 PM (GMT 0)

Ivy, I don't have any fistulas, but yes, not being able to push on my stomach and hear me yell out is one of the things that's steering me away from it.  It seems like they must have decent results from the program, or you don't think a hospital who was ranked one of the best would continue the program, but who knows.  That's why I'm trying to get opinions on it. 

MMckenna, yeah, insurance won't cover the online second opinion, so I'm wondering if there will even be much of a price difference between online and going in person but being able to file with insurance.  I think the 6 hr or so drive each way is part of what's deterring me from actually going.  And if it was in FL or somewhere warm, I'd be all for a vacation there, but Cleveland!?  I found that they do have two locations in FL, but they weren't ranked nearly as high as the one in Cleveland, especially for rheumatology, which is a big issue for me. 

Thanks for the replies...and if anyone else has any experience with it or any insights, I'd appreciate those as well.  I'm really on the fence about it and happy to be persuaded either way. 

✚ New Topic ✚ Reply